Screen resolution & table width

What width to set table to fit screen resolutions.

[chairwars]

I am redesigning my website and I want to design it using tables. I know that 800 x 600 screens are still common, so I am best making my table small enough to fit that?

If so, what sort of size will be effective, 760, 780, 800?

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

[BlobFisk]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, chairwars!

The current trend is towards fluid designs that will make use of all the available screen width, regardless of user resolution. There are many topics on this in the CSS Forum [webmasterworld.com].

However, to answer your question, many people use a width of 750px and a height of 420px to ensure that no scrolling occurs. This should accommodate most toolbars.

HTH

[quiet_man]

I think that Mac / IE5 needs a max width of about 740px to avoid horizontal scroll bars at 800x600.

I see also that bbc.co.uk - a seriously high traffic site - uses 760px width.

Depends on whether you want to accommodate the Mac IE5 / 800x600 users.

[chairwars]

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. I've never used css before, but I think I will learn.

[tbear]

Hi chairwars and another welcome... [webmasterworld.com]

There are many who use percentage sizes, i.e. 100% or perhaps less to allow borders instead of fixed sizes, so as to allow the table to adjust to any size. One must of course take into account any 'fixed size' table content, such as images, which will themselves push out the size of your tables.

[SlyGuy]

When I design non-fluid websites for clients, I use 760px. No complaints about scrolling as of yet.

- Chad

[flashman]

When i designing sites i use these values for display:

ie:796x434
nn:792x435

as minimum values for display(640x480 no use)

it is need to detect what size of your screen depend of your browser. After it divide browser screen into some table cells. For more resolution than 800x600 just create background-images to some parts of table cells.

[Dynamoo]

I usually use a maximum width of 770 pixels, but lately I've been designing to 700 pixels because that copes well if the window isn't maximised, if they have a sidebar (e.g. office) or whatever. It also gives a pretty border effect.. looks.

Don't worry about 640x480 users.. your site will still load and they'll be used to scrolling about to read things. 800x600 users might account for up to 50% of your traffic though.